What is a group?

Understanding Groups and

Teams What is a group?

Formal
Formal Groups
Groups Informal
Informal Groups
Groups

Formally Established Occur

OccurNaturally
Naturally

Work Assignments Friendships

Friendships

Specific Tasks Common

CommonInterests
Interests
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 2

Understanding groups Types of formal groups

z Group
ƒ Two or more interacting and interdependent
Types
Types of
of formal
formal groups
groups
individuals who come together to achieve particular
goals.
ƒ Formal groups
™ Work groups defined by the organisation’s structure
that have designated work assignments and tasks.
– Appropriate behaviours are defined by and Cross-
Cross- Self-
Self-
directed toward organisational goals. Command
Command functional Task
Task force
force
functional managed
managed
ƒ Informal groups
™ Groups that are independently formed to meet the
social needs of their members.
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 3 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.1 4

1
 Stages in Group Development Stages of group development

Forming: Members join and begin the process of defining

the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership

Storming: Intragroup conflict occurs as individuals resist

control by the group and disagree over leadership.

Norming: Close relationships develop as the group becomes

cohesive and establishes its norms for acceptable
behaviour

Performing: A fully functional group structure allows the group

to focus on performing the task at hand

Adjourning: The group prepares to disband and is no longer

concerned with high levels of performance

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 5 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.2 6

Group behaviour model Basic group concepts

Basic Group
Basic Group Concepts
Concepts
Norms &
Roles
Conformity
Status
Size
Systems

Conflict Cohesiveness
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.3 7 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 8

2
 Group structure - role Group structure - norms

z Role z Norms
ƒ The set of expected behaviour patterns attributed ƒ Acceptable standards or expectations that are
to someone who occupies a given position in a shared by the group’s members.
social unit that assist the group in task ƒ Common types of norms
accomplishment or maintaining group member
™ Effort and performance
satisfaction.
™ Dress
ƒ Role conflict: experiencing differing role
™ Loyalty
expectations.
ƒ Role ambiguity: uncertainty about role
expectations

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 9 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 10

Examples of cards used in the Asch

Group structure (cont’d) study
z Conformity
ƒ Individuals conform in order to be accepted by
groups.
ƒ Group pressures can have an effect on an
individual member’s judgment and attitudes.
ƒ The effect of conformity is not as strong as it
once was, although still a powerful force.
ƒ Groupthink
™ The extensive pressure of others in a strongly
cohesive or threatened group that causes individual
members to change their opinions to conform to that
of the group.
Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 11 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.4 12

3
 Group structure (cont’d) Group structure: group size

z Small groups
z Status system
ƒ Complete tasks faster than larger groups.
ƒ The formal or informal prestige grading, position, ƒ Make more effective use of facts.
or ranking system for members of a group that
z Large groups
serves as recognition for individual contributions
to the group and as a behavioural motivator. ƒ Solve problems better than small groups.

™ Formal status systems are effective when the ƒ Are good for getting diverse input.
perceived ranking of an individual and the status ƒ Are more effective in fact-finding.
symbols accorded that individual are congruent.
z Social loafing
ƒ The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when
working collectively than when work individually.

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 13 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 14

The relationship between cohesiveness and

Group structure (cont’d) productivity

z Group cohesiveness
ƒ The degree to which members are attracted to a
group and share the group’s goals.
™ Highly cohesive groups are more effective and
productive than less cohesive groups when their goals
aligned with organisational goals.

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 15 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.5 16

4
 Group processes: Group versus individual decision
group decision making making

•Advantages •Disadvantages Criteria of Effectiveness Groups Individuals

ƒ Generates more complete ƒ Time consuming
information and knowledge. Accuracy X
ƒ Minority domination
ƒ Generates more diverse
ƒ Pressures to conform Speed X
alternatives.
ƒ Ambiguous responsibility
ƒ Increases acceptance of a
solution. Creativity X
ƒ Increases legitimacy of decision.
Degree of acceptance X

Efficiency X

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 17 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 18

Techniques for making more creative Group processes:

group decisions conflict management

z Conflict
¾The perceived incompatible differences in a group
resulting in some form of interference with or
opposition to its assigned tasks.
ƒ Traditional view: conflict must it avoided.
ƒ Human relations view: conflict is a natural and
inevitable outcome in any group.
ƒ Interactionist view: conflict can be a positive force and
is absolutely necessary for effective group performance

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.6 19 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 20

5
 Group processes: conflict management Conflict and group performance

z Categories of Conflict
ƒ Functional conflicts are constructive.
ƒ Dysfunction conflicts are destructive.

z Types of Conflict
ƒ Task conflict: content and goals of the work
ƒ Relationship conflict: interpersonal relationships
ƒ Process conflict: how the work gets done

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 21 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.7 22

Conflict-resolution techniques What is a team?

z Work team
ƒ A group whose members work intensely on a
specific common goal using their positive
synergy, individual and mutual accountability,
and complementary skills.
z Types of teams
ƒ Problem-solving teams
ƒ Self-managed work teams
ƒ Cross-functional teams
ƒ Virtual teams

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.8 23 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 24

6
 Types of teams Types of teams (cont’d)

z Cross-functional teams
z Problem-solving teams
ƒ Employees from the same department and ƒ A hybrid grouping of individuals who are experts
functional area who are involved in efforts to improve in various specialties and who work together on
work activities or to solve specific problems various tasks.
z Virtual teams
z Self-managed work teams
ƒ Teams that use computer technology to link
ƒ A formal group of employees who operate without a physically dispersed members in order to achieve
manager and responsible for a complete work a common goal.
process or segment.

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 25 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 26

Examples of formal groups Examples of formal groups (cont’d)

z Command groups z Cross-functional teams

ƒ Groups that are determined by the organisation ƒ Groups that bring together the knowledge and
chart and composed of individuals who report skills of individuals from various work areas or
directly to a given manager. groups whose members have been trained to do
z Task groups each others’ jobs.
z Self-managed teams
ƒ Groups composed of individuals brought together to
complete a specific job task; their existence is often ƒ Groups that are essentially independent and in
temporary because once the task is completed, the addition to their own tasks, take on traditional
group disbands. responsibilities such as hiring, planning and
scheduling, and performance evaluations.

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 27 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 28

7
Characteristics of effective teams It’s a Jungle Out There!

z 1. ‘You can’t train people to be team players.’ Build an

argument to support this statement. Then negate that
argument.

z 2. How might the team-building exercises such as the ones

briefly described contribute to making a team more effective?

z 3. Is there a risk that exercises like this can be seen as just

‘fun’ exercises that are enjoyable but have no other value? If
so, how can this be overcome?

z 4. It is your chance to be creative! Think of a team-building

exercise that would help a team achieve one of the
characteristics of an effective team. (See Figure 14.11)
Describe which characteristic you chose and then describe
the exercise you would use to help a team develop or enhance
that characteristic.

Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia Figure 14.10 29 Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter: Management 4e © 2006 Pearson Education Australia 30